2K Games and Gearbox Software announce the "Duke Nukem Forever First Access Club," which will grant early access to the playable demo for Duke Nukem Forever to anyone who purchases the Borderlands Game of the Year Edition, which will bundle their role-playing shooter with all its DLC when it is released next week. Word is:

[T]his package will come complete with the entire extravasplosive Borderlands catalog and a free membership certificate for the Duke Nukem ForeverŪ First Access Club. This certificate entitles owners who register their unique key to a wealth of goodies, including early access to a sneak peek of the legendary, long-awaited video game - Duke Nukem Forever.

Entry into this exclusive club will provide fans with the earliest possible admittance to the Duke Nukem Forever playable demo and more. When the demo releases prior to the retail launch of the game, this select group of First Access Club members will be the first to play it and experience the life of the King of All Shooters. Hail to the King, baby!

Wow. When did I step off the whacky train and get onto Planet Awesome(tm)? As long as Broussard is digging holes in China, I'm pretty sure this will ensure DNF sees the light of day, and will probably be packed with a few extra cans of Awesome and w00pass.

JohnBirshire wrote on Oct 5, 2010, 23:12:What's with "above average" titles calling themselves Game of the Year?

There's no requirement, tons of games do it, sell the edition with all the DLC and main game and call it GotY even though it wasn't. Just read it as marketing speak for "gold" or "deluxe" or "director's cut" edition.

Jonny wrote on Oct 6, 2010, 06:43:

Several years later when it finally came out the offer was no longer valid and I'd binned the coupon.

Happy?

No. The info about how they extended and gave more bonuses to the coupon was on bluesnews repeatedly at the time, since the coupon thing and hl2 was a big deal. I'd be more happy if you had been reading blues regularly at the time, so you'd have known not to toss the coupon.

Jonny wrote on Oct 5, 2010, 12:46:Shit, I bought a video card once with a coupon for a copy of Half Life 2 in the box. Several years later when it finally came out the offer was no longer valid, not buying into this kind of incentive again.

You're either lying or just didn't try.

Because I had the same deal and actually got more than was originally offered for my troubles.

All I had to do was type the key in Steam.

Didn't fucking try, obviously. Mysteriously I saw my coupon expire well before it even came close to seeing the light of day, the card was also replaced well before and it got binned during a spring clean. I'm not suggesting some grand conspiracy to defraud, just that I'm never going to be interested in this kind of thing again because chances are when it finally comes time I'll have forgotten about it, lost it, or something else will crop up.

If you keep old coupons around for years then you'd have no problem. As for me I'll amend the orginal line to read:

Several years later when it finally came out the offer was no longer valid and I'd binned the coupon.

What's with "above average" titles calling themselves Game of the Year?

I found Borderlands to be extremely repetitive and downright boring. I swear I killed the same 3 enemies over and over and over again, they just got more hitpoints the higher level you were. And the ending was the most anticlimatic ending since Syndicate. GOTY....laugh.

I played Duke 3D to death, was thrilled about DNF when first announced, but now I wish it would get released, get mediocre reviews, and disappear into Oblivion. Just when you think you are FINALLY done hearing about it, it comes back, like a troll, time and time again. Somebody needs to kill it with fire. *so it can't regenerate*

Jonny wrote on Oct 5, 2010, 12:46:Shit, I bought a video card once with a coupon for a copy of Half Life 2 in the box. Several years later when it finally came out the offer was no longer valid, not buying into this kind of incentive again.

You're either lying or just didn't try.

Because I had the same deal and actually got more than was originally offered for my troubles.

All I had to do was type the key in Steam.

Yeah the coupons "expired" before the game came out as I recall, since the game was a year or more late. But ATI and valve made them good so they were still valid when the game actually DID come out. Didn't they give people with those vouchers the silver package or something which included HL1, CS and DoD and more for compensation for the game delay?

Jonny wrote on Oct 5, 2010, 12:46:Shit, I bought a video card once with a coupon for a copy of Half Life 2 in the box. Several years later when it finally came out the offer was no longer valid, not buying into this kind of incentive again.

You're either lying or just didn't try.

Because I had the same deal and actually got more than was originally offered for my troubles.

Aero wrote on Oct 5, 2010, 17:28:Ugh, yeah, a 2 weapon limit is VERY un-Duke.

Part of what made Duke3D so fun was all the cool weapons, and switching between them just for the hell of it. If you only give me two, then I end up having to decide what to carry based upon how effective it is rather than how much fun it is to blow stuff up with.

Seconded. If I have to choose between the shrink ray, the freeze gun and a bunch of pipe bombs, I quit!

Part of what made Duke3D so fun was all the cool weapons, and switching between them just for the hell of it. If you only give me two, then I end up having to decide what to carry based upon how effective it is rather than how much fun it is to blow stuff up with.

What I was looking forward to about the whole DNF thing was a return to the classic ridiculous one-man-army style of fps. That's what it should be.

Drezden wrote on Oct 5, 2010, 14:04:Borderlands has a great sense of humor, and don't let the Cel Shading turn you away. It's pretty much Diablo 2 with guns. Of course it runs into the same pitfalls that Diablo 2 did as well. Like, after the first 2 playthroughs, when you hit max level, it just becomes a quest to farm the last boss for loot. Cause there is nothing else to do till new DLC is released. Was so happy that Claptrap Revolution came out to give me something to do in the game again.

It's not nearly as good as Diablo II:-No randomized areas-Loot is much worse and less complex, eg runes/gems-The talent trees are a joke-1 active skill per character-Less classes/skills/talents mean there's really no character building-Matchmaking is worse than something released a decade ago

Agreed. The single skill per character means they are fairly homogenized, even moreso due to the weapon skills being character independent. The shitload of guns don't matter because the droprates are so fucked that you mostly only seen white/green bullshit. The talent trees are entirely meaningless once you are a high enough level.

It's a frustrating game because its right on the cusp of greatness but they just can't seem to bring it home, even after 4 DLC packs.

Drezden wrote on Oct 5, 2010, 14:04:Borderlands has a great sense of humor, and don't let the Cel Shading turn you away. It's pretty much Diablo 2 with guns. Of course it runs into the same pitfalls that Diablo 2 did as well. Like, after the first 2 playthroughs, when you hit max level, it just becomes a quest to farm the last boss for loot. Cause there is nothing else to do till new DLC is released. Was so happy that Claptrap Revolution came out to give me something to do in the game again.

It's not nearly as good as Diablo II:-No randomized areas-Loot is much worse and less complex, eg runes/gems-The talent trees are a joke-1 active skill per character-Less classes/skills/talents mean there's really no character building-Matchmaking is worse than something released a decade ago

Borderlands has a great sense of humor, and don't let the Cel Shading turn you away. It's pretty much Diablo 2 with guns. Of course it runs into the same pitfalls that Diablo 2 did as well. Like, after the first 2 playthroughs, when you hit max level, it just becomes a quest to farm the last boss for loot. Cause there is nothing else to do till new DLC is released. Was so happy that Claptrap Revolution came out to give me something to do in the game again.

However, I am pretty pissed at their favoring of the GOTY edition buyers. Not too nice of a way to treat your loyal fans.

Jonny wrote on Oct 5, 2010, 12:46:Shit, I bought a video card once with a coupon for a copy of Half Life 2 in the box. Several years later when it finally came out the offer was no longer valid, not buying into this kind of incentive again.

Wow really? They didn't let those with the coupon have the game upon it's delayed release?

My copy of Half-Life 2 came from a promotion when I bought an ATI video card... 2 years earlier.

I entered the code into Steam when I bought the card, and it said "when HL2 releases you'll get notification". Sure enough 2 years later I got an email saying "hey, you got HL2 coming!"

Well... I had the exact opposite experience. I bought a 9800 Pro from Best Buy, and they never honored the Half-Life 2 voucher.... and it took over a year, and SEVERAL submissions (they kept claiming they didn't receive the paperwork), to get one of two rebates... the second one they didn't honor either.

Lesson learned... fuck Best Buy. Pretty much haven't bought shit from them since... and if I would have lived in Ohio (I think)... I would have joined the class action law suit regarding their rebate shenanigans.

Anyway... on topic... I don't really care for cell-shaded games... but I have to admit the trailers look interesting. I might pick this up if a friend of mine is willing to do co-op with me.